Rio Grande Valley Oral Histories
Identifier
Oral history 00975
Files
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Creation Date
5-21-1986
Description
Eduardo Vela was born in 1930. Francisca Recio Vela was born in 1899.
Mrs. Francisca Recio Vela (born ~1899) recalls her childhood in early 20th-century South Texas: her father Fortunato Recio, a Mexican-born teacher, postmaster, justice of the peace, and 1890s Hidalgo County commissioner; seeing ox carts and stagecoaches give way to the first train (~1904), automobiles (~1908), and telegraph; learning English in Edinburg after attending school in tiny Havana; and marrying into the Vela family in 1921, who operated the profitable hand-pulled cable ferry across the Rio Grande until the international bridge in Hidalgo, Texas replaced it. Her son, Eduardo G. “Ed” Vela, then detailed the City of Hidalgo’s modern transformation: the 1959 incorporation to protect the bridge from McAllen annexation, early toll-sharing revenue that funded the first police car and fire truck, and his two terms as mayor (1972–1978 and 1982–1986). At the end of the interview, Francisca briefly discusses her maternal grandfather who accidentally enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War.
Format
Compressed from a .wav format into a .mp3 access format at 128kbps.
Length
00:58:33
Language
English
Notes
Interview conducted in 1986 by Robert E. Norton. Digital transfer completed on 20 March 2014 from the original analog cassette tape.
Recommended Citation
Rio Grande Valley Oral Histories Collection; Eduardo Vela and Francisca Recio Vela, 1986. ELIBR-0027. University Library, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX. Accessed via https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/rgvoralhistories/446
